Member Avatar for Dani

Has anyone noticed disabling email activation upon registration resulting in a significant increase in new member activity?

  • 9 Contributors
  • 12 Replies
  • 369 Views
  • 6 Months Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by Dani

Dani AI

Generated

Short answer: turning off email activation often boosts immediate signups and first-post activity because it removes friction — something several members here noted (for example and ). The downside, also reported by , and , is an increase in disposable/fake addresses, automated signups and moderation work. For sites that plan to build a paying or opt-in audience (as and pointed out), list hygiene and contactability become important long-term tradeoffs.

A middle path usually works better than a hard on/off switch. The goal is to reduce signup friction for genuinely interested people while raising the cost for automated or low-value accounts. Practical steps that balance both:

  • Progressive verification: allow read access and limited posting immediately, but require verified email before posting links, sending private messages, or subscribing to newsletters.
  • Lightweight anti-bot checks: a hidden honeypot field, simple CAPTCHA only on suspicious signups, and IP rate limits.
  • Email sanity checks: syntax + MX lookup and block known disposable-domain patterns (keep the blocklist updateable). Remove or quarantine hard bounces automatically.
  • Escalation: flag accounts with rapid same-IP signups or similar usernames for admin approval rather than applying admin approval to everyone.
  • UX for verification: show a clear confirmation page, easy “resend activation” flow, and set reasonable token expiry (e.g., 24–72 hours).

Operational items: ensure sending domain uses SPF/DKIM/DMARC so activation mail reaches inboxes, craft non-spammy subject/from lines, and monitor bounce and complaint rates. Run a short A/B test (split traffic 50/50 for a few weeks) and track registration rate, activation rate, spam-posts-per-1000-signups, and engaged-posters-per-1000-signups. Small communities often benefit from low friction; when moderation load grows, reintroducing verification or selective admin validation becomes worthwhile.

Recommended Answers

All 12 Replies

Member Avatar for roryt

I am thinking about turning email activation on my forum and personally I can't see a problem with it because people don't know that it is email activation until the last step. Because of this you are more likely to get more interested and honest people on your forum. And I really can't see why it is a problem for you because as I type there are 712 people on the forum!!! Only jokin! Have a great christmas!!!!!!

Member Avatar for dojo

Email activation ... nice animal :D

I have it disabled in most cases. It makes people lose less time to join the communities. But then again, my forums are small, so I can handle the 2-3 spammers I get from time to time.

I have used email activation (and even admin activation), after having some issues with a person I banned. After he constantly created new accounts and was banned I just put admin validation. Whenever I "sensed" it was him, I'd refuse. He finally gave up so I quit using the validation once again ...

Member Avatar for ges681

no

Member Avatar for BlazingWolf

In a small forum I would have it disabled.

Once you build up a base of members that posts say 50-75 posts a day I would enable it to avoid spammer, troublemakers, ect.

Member Avatar for Scribbller

Well we had email activation turned off went on well for quite a while then started getting spammers so turned it on, was ok for a couple of months then more spammers started joining so eventually we had to activate admin validation of new users which slows down the process but IMO its worth it.

Member Avatar for kub365

After running the site without e-mail activation for few months, I am slowly pondering turning it back on.

Two main reasons:
- I would like clean e-mail addresses to keep in touch with registered members.
- It deters spammy posts.

Member Avatar for Dani

Aside from what you just mentioned, as your site grows, you will really want to have a nice quote-unquote "clean" mailing list. A good, targeted opt-in mailing list is amazing to monetize.

Member Avatar for dj bill

Aside from what you just mentioned, as your site grows, you will really want to have a nice quote-unquote "clean" mailing list. A good, targeted opt-in mailing list is amazing to monetize.

That is the main reason I have the verify in place and on. Since starting my newsletter I want the list to be clean. So far so good!

Peace,

DJ Bill

Member Avatar for AlexJ

I have joined many a forum, and the only annoying thing about them is the email confirmation. I too have tested whether of not disabling the email activation inreases conversion rate, and it did significantly. It's not like you can't still ask for a new members email address upon registration, you just won't be sure if it's legit.

Member Avatar for Dani

The biggest plus for me is that it gets rid of the spammers and trolls, for the most part. Additionally, for legal reasons, if you run into trouble with a user, you have their email address as a last resort to fall back on aka phone their ISP. Trolls know this, and would be inclined to just skip over your forum and continue on to the next one because email confirmation is too much hassle to bother with.

Member Avatar for dojo

well, as an update, my forums have now member email activation. Makes some of them angry, but getting a lot of mail.ru and spammers really made me change my mind :D

Member Avatar for Dani

Yeah, unfortunately you do lose a percentage of your members who don't have email handy when they want to use your site, or so forth. However, in the long run, it's essential to keep a large community tamed.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.